BRIEFING: THE LAW

BRIEFING: THE LAW; NEWARK PLANE CRASH

By Kirsty Sucato

Published: March 4, 2001

The city of Newark and about 20 residents of a neighborhood struck by a small plane the day after Thanksgiving 1999 will receive $2 million from the pilot's estate under a legal settlement announced last week. The pilot of the single-engine plane, Itzhak Jacoby of Bethesda, Md., died along with his wife and their 13-year-old daughter, and the trail of flaming wreckage damaged 18 buildings and injured 27 residents, including a 59-year-old man who died 45 days later. An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board blamed mechanical trouble and Mr. Jacoby's use a barbiturate used to treat migraine headaches. Under the settlement, a panel of retired Superior Court judges will decide how to divide the money, said Shay Deshpande, the assistant corporation counsel for Newark. Kirsty Sucato